Her eyes were on me as if she could tell how much I needed to make sure she was okay. She walked straight to me, stumbled slightly, and reached for my hand. “I’m fine.”
I looked from her to her parents and wondered if Ben was going to try and kill me right there on the beach. His eyes were narrowed and I imagined steam coming off his head. My shirt covered her pretty well, but it was obvious that she didn’t have anything on under it but her bikini top.
“Devin knows what I am. He’s something not human, something wrong.” She took a deep breath. “He trapped me in the fish house while I was cleaning tanks. He threw some of the cleaner at me and thankfully, Blake heard us.”
“That is not from a little bit of cleaner.” Violet pointed at Meena’s legs. “God, Meena, he could have killed you.” She hugged her carefully, and I let go of Meena’s hand so that she could return it. I knew how important Vi was to her.
“You stopped him?” Marion was looking at me with tears in her eyes. I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t like I could just let him do that to someone. Especially not Meena. I nodded my head and was shocked when she wrapped her arms around me. Guilt curled through my stomach and I had to tell them the truth.
“It’s my fault that Devin is here. I didn’t know, but my dad paid off the judge so I wouldn’t do time. I think it meant a whole group of us got off easier than we should have.” I swallowed. “This is my fault. If I had just gotten time, Meena wouldn’t have needed someone to save her. I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t make him do this to me, Blake.” Meena looked at me and shook her head. “It’s not your fault.”
Marion patted my back and kissed my cheek. “She’s right.”
“What do you mean he wasn’t human?” Violet’s voice rose. “He’s a mermaid? Merman? Was he the one you saw swimming the other day?”
“No. That was Jacen. I met him last week. Devin was something else, something weird.” Meena shook her head.
“Jacen’s a mermaid?” Jealousy hit me hard like a jagged shard of pain that cut through my heart. Would Meena need to be with someone like her? I took a deep breath and hoped no one had heard what I was really thinking in my tone. “And Mireille, too? I guess that explains the blue hair.”
“You met the mermaids last week?” Marion frowned. “Why didn’t you tell us?” I could tell that Marion was upset her daughter hadn’t brought it up. Meena’s eyes darted to me and I wondered if she hadn’t told them because she had been worried about other things. Things like me. Things like us. Just the thought of it made my heart feel lighter. She cared about me.
“I just had so much going on…. They were at Sugar’s” Meena winced. “It was pretty awkward.” I laughed. Awkward wasn’t the right word.
“When it rains, it pours, huh?” Violet looked at Meena with big eyes.
“Let’s go back to the house. We need to talk.” Ben’s eyes ran over Meena and then to me. He kicked off his shoes and pushed them in front of his daughter.
“Thanks.” She slid her feet into his large flip-flops and we started for the house. My mind was still reeling from everything that had happened. I fell behind the group a little and watched everyone walk. They grouped together like a family unit and I felt like an intruder. I watched as Meena stumbled some more; her legs were weak and shaky. Trying to walk in those large shoes was making it even harder on her.
I took a few long steps and scooped Meena up in my arms. She didn’t even gasp, just wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I looked down in her eyes and realized that my mind was already made up. I was part of this now, too.
Chapter Fifteen
- Meena -
Blake tucked me against his chest and the world melted away. I didn’t realize that I had drifted off while listening to his heartbeat under my ear, but we were at my house in what felt like seconds. He shifted me in his arms and laid me down on the couch. He started to move away, but I grabbed his hand and pulled him back to sit next to me. I scooted into a corner of the couch and he sat down next to me.
Even with everyone else in the house, I found myself hyperaware of Blake. I looked down at our hands and frowned. With my free hand, I traced the faint white lines on my wrist and then let my fingers trail over the matching lines on his. I looked up and met his eyes.
He didn’t say anything. No questions or cursing, just shrugged. I could hear Mom and Dad whispering in the kitchen. Violet was on the phone with her mom, letting her know that I was okay. My wet hair slapped against Blake’s borrowed T-shirt and I shivered. I was soaked and not wearing enough clothing.
I stood up and frowned at my shaky legs. Blake was on his feet immediately, steadying me. I had never changed with such bad wounds before and it had taken a lot out of me. Doing changes that quickly back to back was difficult in itself. I heard Vi get off the phone and watched as she yanked the throw blanket off Dad’s favorite chair to wrap around me.
“Let’s get you in some dry clothes.” I let her help me to my room, where I sat on the bed while she found a shirt and shorts. I changed while she was getting my brush out of the bathroom and slipped on my fuzzy slippers. My skin felt sensitive and my feet even more so. I looked in the mirror and frowned. Red skin peeked out of my shirt collar and trailed down my arms. The shirt did help cover up the worst of it, though it agitated the problem even more. Sighing, I pulled the shirt off and slipped a tank top on instead. It would heal faster if I didn’t irritate it more.
“The shirt hurt?” Violet came in with my brush and frowned at me. “God, Meen, he really got you good.”
“I’ll be okay.” I frowned. I would be okay, but I still felt shaky. I met Violet’s eyes in the mirror. “It scared me, Vi. It was just concrete cleaner, but it might as well have been acid. If Blake hadn’t shown up…” I wiped at my cheeks. I didn’t need to cry about this, it was over. I was okay and I would be better tomorrow.
“But he did show up.” Violet hugged me gently. Tears ran down her cheeks and she sniffled. After a minute, she looked up at me and shook her head. “I owe him a bunch of cupcakes.”
I laughed and leaned my head against hers. “He didn’t freak out, Vi. When I turned he didn’t act like I was some kind of monster.”
“I said he was trouble, not stupid.” She stepped away so that I could brush my hair. “I’m giving up my grant. I can’t leave you right now. There’s too much going on.”
I stopped loosening one of my braids and frowned at her. “That’s crazy. You can’t do that!”
“How can I leave right now? You’re my family. You don’t leave family when they need you.” She stuck her chin out and I knew I had to nip this in the bud fast. “I’m calling in the morning. There’s enough time for them to give it to someone else.”
“You are not going to give that up.” I turned around and pointed at her. “Devin was a weird, random thing and I’m fine. You aren’t giving this up, Vi. This is a big deal, your dream!”
“You could have died.” Tears formed in her eyes again and I went to sit with her on the bed.
“I didn’t die. Blake was there and he… God, Violet. He was like an avenging angel. I’ve never seen someone so angry before.”
“There’s that too. I’ve seen the way you look at each other.” She frowned. “And there are the other mermaids….”
“Violet, you can’t give up your life for me.” I shook my head. “Besides, if you do this, I’ll make Dad give you tank detail.” She hated cleaning the fish tanks. “You have to do this.”
“I don’t want to.” She crossed her arms and glared at me. That’s more like it. I had a feeling that as much as I was worried about her leaving, she was just as stressed out.
“It’s going to be good, Vi. Maybe I can come visit you one day.” I smiled. Who knew? I could always just swim there.
“That would kick ass.” She smiled sadly.
“C’mon. There’s no telling what Dad’s done to Blake by now.”
Blake was leaning against the kitchen counter. Someone had gotten him a T-shirt and he was drinking a glass of orange juice. His eyes met mine as soon as I turned the corner and I felt warmer immediately. I could feel it like a touch when he looked at the marks on my arms and legs. His jaw tensed and he looked down at the floor, his hair falling over his eyes.
“We need to decide what to do.” Mom walked out of the kitchen and brought me a glass of juice. The sugar always helped pep me up after a bunch of changes.
“What do you mean?” I took a sip and watched my parents over the rim of the glass.
“We have to report Devin to the police. He can’t come back here.” Dad crossed his arms over his chest. “I sent the others home, but they all knew something had happened. There wasn’t any hiding that.”
“Did anyone see him leave?” A terrible feeling slid over me. What if he was still here at Flukes?
“He was out when we left the fish house. If he got up on his own, I doubt he wanted to do anything but get the hell out of here.” Blake raised his head and I looked at the cut under his eye. There was hydrogen peroxide on the counter and a couple of bandages. My feet moved without thought, taking me straight to him. Carefully I touched the butterfly bandage on his cheek and frowned. Looking down, I lifted his hand so that I could examine the cuts there. I remembered the blood on them and winced. Bringing his hand to my mouth, I brushed a kiss over his knuckles.
“Thank you.” I looked up at him and was surprised by the tenderness in his eyes. He was usually so cocky, it caught me off guard.
“I wish I had been there sooner.” His eyes were dark with emotion and my heart sped up. I’d never been looked at like that before. As if I was the only person that mattered.
My dad cleared his throat, reminding me that we weren’t alone. I didn’t step away from Blake, but I did turn so that I was facing everyone else.
“What do we tell the cops? If they see me like this, they’re going to want to know what happened. If I tell them I had an allergic reaction, they’re going to want to know how I’m healing so quickly.” I shook my head.
“I have to tell them something.” Rubbing his jaw, Dad looked at me with narrowed eyes. “We could tell them that he threatened you and that Blake ran him off. It’s not far from the truth. You’ll just have to cover up until you’re completely healed.”
“No one saw you but us,” Violet said. “I ran ahead to make sure no one was on the path.”
“Wait.” Mom shook her head. “You said that Devin was something different. If the police go looking for him and they find something that isn’t human, it might bring them back to Meena.”
“He’s been arrested before.” Blake shrugged. “I don’t think he’s going to give away his secrets just to get at Meena. Not really his style.”
“What made you think he wasn’t human?” Violet sat on the couch, her legs tucked under her. “He looked like your run-of-the-mill bad guy.”
I could feel Blake standing behind me and hesitated. Explaining this was only going to further the evidence that I wasn’t human. “He had gills and his eyes changed. It was… scary. I’ve never seen anything like it.” I shuddered, remembering the hate in his eyes. “And he told me. Told me that his mother had been a mermaid.” I bit my lip. What if I couldn’t have children with a human? What if I had never met Devin and gone on to get married, having no idea?
“But he wasn’t a mermaid?” Dad’s voice was quiet and I could see the scientist in his eyes working out the same conclusion that I’d come to. “Blake, did he look different to you?”
“Looked like an asshole.” He shifted closer to me, his hand brushing my lower back gently, and I wondered if he had understood the implications. “I didn’t see any gills, but I wasn’t really looking.”
“He smelled horrible, too. I noticed it a couple of times. Like something rotting in the sun.” I made a face, remembering how bad it was. “I heal when I change, what if…” I darted for the door. What if he’d gone to the water? The closest water to the fish house was Mitch and Jallia’s pen. I fumbled with the door handle for a second, but managed to get it open.
My legs wobbled as I took the stairs down, but Blake was right behind me and reached out to steady me. I took the path as quickly as I could, my heart racing. When I hit the gate that blocked the path to the swimming areas I slammed the palm of my hand down on the latch and fought to open it.
“Mitch!”
Blake’s’ sure hands slid past mine and worked the gate open. I kicked my slippers off as I ran down the dock and practically fell down the ladder. I could hear the dolphins, but none of them had surfaced. I dove into the water and swam for the other side of the enclosure. There was a splash behind me as someone else jumped into the water, but I didn’t bother looking to see who it was.
Stormy was the first to surface, his angry clicks letting me know that something was wrong. There was a nasty looking scrape along his head, but he was too upset to let me look at it. Mitch surfaced with Jallia, her agitated movements adding to my anxiety. I grabbed Stormy’s fin and let him pull me to the others.
“What’s wrong? Are you all okay?” Mitch whistled plaintively and I turned to look at Jallia. She was angry, but looked unhurt. They were all passing along their fear and frustration. The most I could pick out from them was an impression of a shark, but that didn’t seem right. I ran my hands over Jallia’s belly and tried to see if there was anything wrong with the baby.
“Meena!” Blake swam near us but kept his distance, wary of the angry dolphins. Mitch immediately shot toward him, pushing against him so that he moved forward.
“She’s trying to keep you close so she can protect you.” I watched her in shock. She had accepted Blake into her pod without another thought. She was signaling that Blake was ours.
“Are they okay?” He covered the last little space with quick strokes.
“They’re upset. He must’ve been here.” I looked for Dad and saw him walking along the top of the nets. He knelt down and by the look on his face I knew there was something wrong.
“What is it?” I raised my voice so that he would be able to hear me.